Oct

6

Glenn Beck: How We Got Here

Filed Under Government, Money | Leave a Comment

Read Glenn Beck’s post here. I’ll follow his posts with links to each of his additions.

Sep

2

Do Democrats Hate You?

Filed Under Ideology, Politics | Leave a Comment

Democrats got some bad news yesterday: Hurricane Gustav wasn’t as bad as it could have been. It was downgraded to a category 2 storm, and made landfall to the west of New Orleans. Does this mean that God isn’t on their side after all? Will “Foul Fowler” really apologize now?

Not only was Gustav weaker than the Democrats had hoped, it missed our oil derricks in the gulf as well, which resulted in a drop of nearly $7 in the price of a barrel of oil.

What does it say about these people who have to hope for the worst to happen to people? There’s something deeply wrong there, and very disturbing.

Jul

8

Defend Utah Values PAC

Filed Under Campaigns, Constitution, Elections, Environment, Fascism, Government, Ideology, Immigration, Law, Politics | Leave a Comment

I got an email today from Larry Meyers of the Utah Republican Assembly. He and several others have formed a new political action committee, which they have called the Defend Utah Values PAC. Their intent is to act as a fund raising entity to help elect true “statesmen who will uphold the Constitution and conservative principles of government” to office in Utah.

The Utah Republican Assembly previously endorsed Jason Chaffetz for Congress. My guess is that they will continue to back Jason, and will oppose Jim Matheson.

Actually, it’s getting so most Democratic politicians are spineless wienies in the face of the Democratic leadership. The more of them we can send home in November, the sooner we can all get our lives back in order.

The DUV-PAC Board of Directors will include:

  • Chairman, David Pyne (Salt Lake County Republican Assembly)
  • Vice-chairman, Larry Meyers (Utah Republican Assembly)
  • Merrill Cook (U-FIRE)
  • Don Guymon (editor of the Grassroots legislative report)
  • Chris Herrod (Utah House of Representatives)
  • Lowell Nelson (President, Utah Republican Liberty Caucus)
  • Mike Thompson (Utah County Republican Assembly and former State Representative)

I noticed no-one from the Sutherland Institute was on the list, which makes sense considering their recent statements concerning Immigration reform. It appears they are more “Doug Wright Republicans” than Conservatives. They have allowed themselves to be caught in the compassion trap, i.e. where Mercy robs Justice and the Rule of Law is set aside with flawed arguments about how the kids are innocent.

Their position on immigration is simply Liberalism hiding among Conservative ideas–kind of like how our mothers told us that the Devil will tell us a thousand truths if he can get us to believe one lie. Don’t buy the lie. It’s the ice cream with just a tiny bit of dog poop in it.

I don’t agree with everything in the DUV-PAC platform, but I think they deserve our support.

Jul

2

The Vision of the Anointed

Filed Under Campaigns, Elections | 3 Comments

I’ve been out of town for a couple of days. Time to catch up.

While I was on vacation, I finished reading Thomas Sowell’s marvelous book The Vision of the Anointed. It was a fantastic read! Many of my favorite current affairs books leave me wanting to strangle some liberal, just to make me feel better. So, I balance them with the heavy scholarly books, which are much more about principles, and take a lot longer to read. I get two benefits from these books–a grounding in true conservative principles, and time to cool off. Dr. Sowell’s book is a good balance of both.

In it, he explains that a good number of our population, especially of the academic variety but also many of those who simply have higher degrees, feel that they are exclusively qualified to lead us into the future; that only they have the vision to see what America really needs to be great. Right now you’re thinking, “Cool! A good book about Liberals.” Well, you won’t be entirely disappointed, but Dr. Sowell only occasionally mentions Liberals or Liberalism and does not point to them as the sole focus of his book. I came to realize, while reading the last few chapters of the book, that Dr. Sowell’s focus is on anyone who can be counted among the self-anointed, including Conservatives. No-one is immune from this self-aggrandizing vision.

Well, how interesting that Chris Cannon refers to the everyday folks here in Utah as boors (props to Brad Reneer at reneer.org). Here is a fine example of what Dr. Sowell writes about. Chris Cannon thinks the reason he was beaten in the primary was the low voter turnout. That Utahans don’t care enough to vote in numbers great enough to ensure a cannon victory. Well, after doing some analysis on the Utah County clerk’s Statement of Votes Cast, it appears that low voter turnout had little to do with Cannon’s ouster.

For example, in Provo’s 8th voting precinct, of 1366 registered Republican voters, only 6 made it out to vote and all 6 voted for Cannon. Conversely, in one American Fork precinct, the voter turnout was over 40%, yet Jason Chaffetz won that precinct with 60% of the votes.

Some other interesting results came out of Mapleton. You’d think that Mapleton would have been locked down for Cannon, but Cannon won in only two precincts there (I’m guessing the one in which he lives). Additionally, the Mapleton precinct with the highest and lowest turnout rates (24% and 16%) went to Cannon, but the 2nd and 3rd highest (21% and 17%) went to Chaffetz.

Overall, voter turnout was very low at less than 10%. But when the results are broken down by precinct, it becomes obvious that it would not have mattered if the voter turnout were higher. Cannon still would have lost. Perhaps Mr. Cannon should reflect on this truth. Over the years he has become one of the “anointed,” and out of step with reality. One of the things Thomas Sowell teaches us is those with the vision of the anointed find myriad ways to insulate themselves from reality. Chris Cannon is doing exactly that now.

I said in an earlier post that it was time for Mr. Cannon to step aside, in large part because he had reached the pinnacle of his power. Judging from his reaction to the election, I’m comfortable knowing I called it right.

(On a side note, I told Jason that we was going to win the nomination back at the Convention)

Jun

25

Congratulations, Jason!

Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

On a great win in the face of tremendous odds.

Chris Cannon seemed to have everything going for him: endorsements of most of Utah’s Republican leadership, name recognition, a bigger budget, experience from previous campaigns, PAC money from outside Utah, all that and yet volunteerism and a great grass roots effort were able to unseat him in a near landslide.

Everyone thought that the 59%-41% vote at the State convention was a fluke, but here it is again repeated in the Republican primary. Obviously Jason has something to say that resonates with voters. Too bad Chris Cannon was more interested in listening to outside voices.

Jun

24

Mr. Cannon, You’re Fired!

Filed Under Campaigns, Elections, Government, Politics | Leave a Comment

I spent the evening at Chaffetz Headquarters in Springville. At about 11:00 PM, Chris Cannon called to offer his congratulations, and to concede the race for Utah’s Third congressional District.

The totals as of right now (with all but one rural precinct reporting) are:

  • Jason Chaffetz - 59.96% (27,266)
  • Chris Cannon - 40.04% (18,208)

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Chaffetz thanked Mr. Cannon for his service to the community, which was a nice gesture.

There was a point during the evening where Mr. Cannon said something that served to solidify our feelings about him. He told a local reporter that he was disappointed in the low turnout, and said that it aserved as a lesson to the people of Utah; that if they want good representation, they’re going to have to get out and vote. The comment drew a lot of cat-calls from people at Chaffetz headquarters.

To me, it was reminiscent of another comment that was made several years ago. When Al Gore lost the presidential election in 2000, one of the Democratic leaders was interviewed at the State Capitol. Her comment made my blood boil. She said, as closely as I can recall, “The people have spoken, and if they want to drive this ship of state into the ground, that’s their business.”

Now I know Mr. Cannon didn’t say exactly that, but it certainly felt a lot like it. I am convinced that Washington has historically attracted people who think like that; who think they know better than us benighted masses. Chris Cannon has called for transparency in earmarks. What is really needed to overcome this effect is transparency in government. Washington needs to be a fishbowl, not an opaque bubble. Then nobody could say, “Well, you just don’t understand how things work back there.” That’s always a red flag for me. It says three things, 1) Washington is a closed society that, 2) the politicians think we aren’t bright enough to understand, and 3) we couldn’t get things done there because we aren’t part of the clique.

Here’s hoping Jason Chaffetz breaks it wide open!

Jun

24

Primary Day

Filed Under Campaigns, Elections, Government | Leave a Comment

Today is the Republican Primary.

Do the right thing, and vote.

I voted Jason Chaffetz for US Congress in Utah’s Third District. I think it’s time for a change, and I’m not talking about the empty change-for-the-sake-of-change that Obama wants. I mean substantive change.

Chris Cannon has served Utah reasonably well, but he now seems to have picked up whatever germ has infested Washington DC that causes our public servants to become arrogant and cocky, to rise up against the people and take an attitude of “I know better than you.”

Jason’s positions more closely match my own, as does his feelings on the immigration question. Leaving in place the incentives that cause people to come here illegally, only to be caught up in the web of deceit laid by our leaders wherein these people cannot lift themselves out of poverty is wrong. We are a country that has prided itself on the equality of opportunity. But these people are shut out of that opportunity cycle by their legal status. The solution is not to make categorical changes to their status, but to encourage them to come to America the right way, in accordance with the law. Luring them here with promises of free health care, better income, whatever, is an evil that must be abolished.

Both Jason Chaffetz and Glenn Beck have rightly named this the new slavery–a community of non-citizens upon which our economy supposedly hangs. That argument was wrong during the revolution, and it is wrong now.

Get out and vote.

Jun

17

Idiots from the Planet Stupid

Filed Under Fascism, Government, Ideology, Politics, Socialism | Leave a Comment

Here’s a fine example of why Barak Obama must be defeated in November. With morons like this guy supporting his positions, we’ll all soon be enjoying the fruits of American Liberalism–we’ll all be dirt poor, our standard of living will fall through the floor, we will see the rise of a new European lifestyle in the big cities of America, and abject poverty and death in the small towns, the jobless rate will skyrocket, and crime rates will follow, and a depression far deeper and more vast will begin here in America as corporations move overseas, and will engulf the entire global economy that will last for at least 4 years.

This is why the Electoral College is so vitally important–more so now than ever. If it were up to the educated idiots who live in places like New York and Los Angeles, the rest of the country would have become a trash heap long ago. These people think nothing exists beyond what they can see from the tallest skyscraper. To their understanding, there are no wide stretches of open land in America. There is only a 200-mile stretch once you leave New York before you get to L.A. The only reason they don’t travel there via ground transportation is because the subways don’t connect.

Sean Hannity repeated a quote by someone, I forget who, who could not understand how a Republican could win in an election, when nobody they knew voted for them. It’s the same principle on a larger scale. They don’t believe anything exists outside their own little sphere.

And the sphere includes not just space, but time as well. They are completely ignorant of the lessons of experience and history. You can’t point out to them how the policies of Barak Obama are not much more than Jimmy Carter’s policies revisited, and therefore will have a similar effect. The difference is that because of this lame-brained tendency to refuse to learn the correct lessons, they think these policies will work this time if only they try harder, or work at making government even larger and more powerful, or take more of our money. They think it will be different because the people involved are different.

Barak Obama is a full-blown Marxist. If he gets elected, America will have fulfilled Nikita Khrushchev’s prediction of one day becoming a Communist nation by our own stupidity:

You Americans are so gullible. No, you won’t accept Communism outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have Communism. We won’t have to fight you. We’ll so weaken your economy until you’ll fall like overripe fruit into our hands.

Given the behavior of the current Democratic leadership, and the goals of Barak Obama and his liberal friends, is there any wonder about whom Khrushchev was speaking when he said “we.” there is only one explanation for the complete opposition by the Democrats to forestall the slide of our economy into chaos and wreckage by allowing us to drill for oil in our own country, only one explanation for their policies of the past 40 years. They have become the enemy. Traitors to their own people, they have sold themselves out for the chance to wield power over mankind. They are Stalin’s useful idiots. They are not our countrymen; they do not belong among us.

Jun

17

The Pledge to Increase US Oil Production

Filed Under Environment, Global Warming, Government, Politics | 4 Comments

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) is circulating a pledge among House members that signifies their willingness to rely more heavily on our own, domestic resources.

As of 4:00 PM MDT on June 17, 2008, Congressman Chris Cannon’s name is not on the list. Why not? Maybe he’s just too busy talking about it.

Those who have signed to date:

Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.)
Tom Price (R-Ga.)
Paul Broun (R-Ga.)
Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.)
Patrick McHenry (R-NC)
Wally Herger (R-Calif.)
George Radanovich (R-Calif.)
Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio)
Mike Conaway (R-Texas)
John Culberson (R-Texas)
Tom Reynolds (R-NY)
Greg Walden (R-Ore.)
Bill Shuster (R-Pa.)
Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.)
Dan Burton (R-Ind.)
Judy Biggert (R-Ill.)
Tom Feeney (R-Fla.)
Tom Latham (R-Iowa)
Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.)

Jun

5

Jason Chaffetz Within Two Percent of Chris Cannon

Filed Under Campaigns, Elections, Government, Immigration, Politics | 13 Comments

I got an email earlier today from my friends at the Utah Republican Assembly. It was forwarded from Bay Buchanan, a nationally known Conservative pundit and author of The Extreme Makeover of Hillary Rodham-Clinton. Ms. Buchanan was US Treasurer from 1981-1983, and she was awarded 2007 Woman of the Year by the Claire Booth Luce Policy Institute. She converted to the LDS Church in 1976 (not that it makes any difference to us folks here in Utah…end sarcasm).

The letter says it all.


Dear Friend,

The race in Utah is heating up and our man, Jason Chaffetz, is closing in on one of La Raza’s favorite congressman, Chris Cannon. You remember the Cannon-he’s famous for saying that in Utah, “We don’t often times make the distinction between legal and illegal [immigrants]”

Two weeks ago, when in Utah for my son’s wedding, I made of point of having lunch with Jason and his wife. I wanted to be certain he was the kind of candidate who deserved the endorsement of Team America and your support as well.

I am excited to tell you he is all that and more. Solid on the issues, Tancredo-good on immigration-Jason is also tough and gutsy. He will not buckle under pressure. Jason is exactly what we need in Washington.

I just spoke with Jason and he is really thrilled with the feel of the campaign. As well he should be-he has closed to within 2% of Cannon!!!

But he needs our help if he is to beat Cannon. The establishment, ethnic lobbyists, and corporate buddies are once again pouring money into Cannon’s coffers. They know he is a solid vote for their amnesty and guest worker bills. They will do all they can to keep Cannon in Congress-and Jason out.

Jason’s knows he needs to get his message right to the people with strong radio ads. He has already cut the ads-now he needs to raise the money to get them on air!

And Chris Cannon is up to his old tricks. His website has an outrageously misleading video on immigration in which Cannon claims to be against amnesty!! We need to help Jason get the facts out about Cannon’s record and Jason will win this congressional seat.

He needs our help and he needs it now. If there is anyway you can make a contribution to him please do so TODAY. Jason has promised me that all the money Team America raises for him will be used to buy radio Your generous contribution will be used for Jason’s radio buy.

If you want to make your contribution directly to his campaign at his website. Otherwise contribute to Team America and mark in the comment section “For Jason”. We will then send Jason-overnight-a check for the total amount of earmarked contributions. (Team America keeps no portion of contributions earmarked for candidates.)

Thanks again for everything you do to protect and secure this nation.

Warmest regards,
Bay Buchanan

2% is likely within the statistical margin of error. Jason can win this election. The people of Utah are tired of Cannon’s empty rhetoric and constant inaction. Glenn Beck told his listeners today about the 6,000 people who have been killed along our border with Mexico over the past couple of years by violent gangs. Our legislators knew almost nothing about it. This is why we need strength in Congress. We need someone who can shake those dullards out of their sleepy comfort. Congress needs a new spine. Chris Cannon has failed us in that regard.

Let’s really hit Cannon hard in the next few weeks. Go Jason!

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